Scar Tissue
by SuperFinnis
Summary: It's been months since Lorna Morello's release from Litchfield and things are going well. She's seeing someone about her mental illness, she's reconnected with her sister, and most importantly, she's in love with Nicky Nichols. However, old scars come back to haunt her when a certain someone gets word that she's free. [Mostly a study of Morello's mind with some Nichorello fluff]


_**Author's note;**_ _No, I am not done with my other fanfic, I promise! I know I should be working on that right now instead, but I got inspired with an idea from_ _orangehollyhalebforeverlove_ _'s new Nichorello fanfic (go check it out!) that gave me a whole new twisted story of my own. I promise I will update the other one soon. I've just started classes two weeks ago (which are everyday starting at nine fuuu), so everything has been really hectic and I momentarily lost my muse. Luckily, it's back and I've got the next chapter for I Bet You in my head already. In terms of this story, let me know what you think. It's mostly focusing on Lorna's psychological state, with Nicky being there to support and help her. I tend to write Nicky a lot more than Lorna though, so I apologize if this is absolutely terrible. I also kind of have no idea what I'm going to do with this story outside of the main conflict, but I'll figure it out. Bear with me and my possibly short chapters._

* * *

As brown eyes fluttered open against the gleam of morning sun beating down on her pale face, Lorna shifted herself closer to the warm body next to her. Nicky's peaceful breathing as she stayed deeply in sleep made a smile tug at the corner of Lorna's lips. She couldn't believe she was in bed with Nicky Nichols once again. But this time it was different. Before, back in Litch, when they laid in bed together it was because Lorna was torn up and crying over something. They were never really intimate like this before. They fucked. Nicky comforted her on occasion. But the closest they had ever really gotten was on the stairwell after Christopher's visit.

Ugh. Christopher. She hated to think about him now. She never thought that day would come, but after that visit, she was terrified of him. It wasn't his fault though. She knew that now. It was hers. She'd caused him to act like that, and while it took her a long time to come to terms with it, it was a relief but also a nightmare.

After leaving Litchfield and realizing there was something truthful in Nicky's words to her ( _I do_ ; she chanted those words in her head often now; different to when she had chanted them in terms of practicing for her nonexistent wedding), Lorna had come to the bold conclusion that she needed psychological help. Litchfield certainly didn't offer her the chance to rehabilitate anything, so when she got out, she found an actual, qualified psychiatrist to go to. She wasn't able to afford it, especially in her decision to not tell any of her family about it, but Nicky had offered to help. Of course, Lorna refused the offering, but fuck if Nicky wasn't stubborn enough to get her way.

And now here she was. Not entirely better, but on her way. Lying in bed with someone who really did love her. Someone who actually wanted her. And boy did her and Nicky make a pair. One treating insanity and the other treating addiction. It only made it easier to open up to each other, however.

Lorna peeked over Nicky's unconscious body and eyed the clock on the nightstand. It was still early and she figured Nicky wouldn't be up for a few hours (Nicky Nichols was by no means a morning person), so in an attempt to not wake her, Lorna carefully slid out from under the arm that had lazily rested over her. The only sound she made was the light patter of her bare feet against the hardwood floor as she trailed off to the kitchen.

* * *

"Jesus, kid. How long you been in here?" Nicky asked as she groggily made her way into the kitchen, observing the piles of food Lorna had whipped up for breakfast.

"Ohh, not long," she replied as she stacked another pancake onto the massive pile. "You're up early. It's still mornin'," a grin now spread across her face and Nicky allowed a hazy one herself; she loved when Morello got snarky at her like that.

"Yeah, well, it gets cold in bed when you take off on me. Not cool."

"Here," Lorna picked up a piece of bacon and dangled it in front of Nicky's face, enticing her to eat it, "That'll make ya feel better, Grumpy pants."

"Y'know, you're really living up to my fantasy of having around a hot fuck who makes me bacon in the morning. All we gotta do is fuck on top of the Leaning Tower of Pancakes over here and dream come true."

Lorna quirked an eyebrow and gave off a deadpan stare. Nicky just chuckled, taking the strip of bacon and beginning to munch on it. "Ya happy?"

Lorna triumphantly nodded.

"What's the game plan?"

"Well," Morello started, immediately immersing herself back in her cooking, "After breakfast I'm meetin' up with Franny to do a lil shoppin'. Then we got lunch at Red's with Vause and Chapman-"

"Lunch?! We got enough food here to survive the apocalypse AND feed Africa."

Lorna ignored her and determinedly continued on with their plans for the day. " _Then_ , free time!" she did a little dance as she practically sang the words. Nicky smiled at how cute she was.

"But only for two hours, 'cause then you got that meetin' with your mom and her lawyer-"

"Aw, shit," Nicky exclaimed. Lorna paused for a moment to lean over the counter and tap her finger under Nicky's chin.

"It won't be that bad. Plus afterward, its movie night and ya'know what that always leads to, right?"

Nicky chuckled again, "Fuck, even the sex is planned out. That's the problem with live-in chicks; they map the whole thing out."

* * *

They'd just finished breakfast and Nicky gave Lorna a passionate kiss goodbye before finding her way back to bed.

Lorna pulled on her jacket and pulled out her phone to text Franny to let her know she was on her way. It had been three months since she got out of Litchfield and two months since she lived at home. Technically, she still did. Most of her stuff was there, excluding most of her clothes, but she spent every waking hour at Nicky's apartment that it didn't feel like she lived at home anymore. Nicky's place was her home now. _Nicky_ was her home.

However, she did make it a task to see Franny as much as she could. The two were moderately close before Lorna was hauled off to prison, if only because they had to work together to keep their family alive, but as Franny had begun to unravel the secret behind Lorna's "relationship" with Christopher, there was a softness that grew into overprotection of her little sister. As crazy as it sounded, the whole thing had bonded them closer. They still fought, but not as much. Now, Lorna was excited to go hang out with her big sister. She hadn't felt that in a long time.

As she exited the apartment building and entered the parking garage, she'd felt a chill run down her spine. This level of the garage was practically empty. Most of the people who lived in the apartment complex were businessmen who took off to the suburbs on the weekend to visit their families. Lorna always hated how cold and empty it felt on these days, but she pushed forward.

Until she saw her car. The door was cracked open and the window smashed. She swallowed hard and quickly looked around for any thugs that might be lurking. But this was a secure parking garage; only people who lived in the apartments could get in here. She was seconds away from turning on her heels and running up to get Nicky, and yet she found her feet walking closer. It was a terrible disease she had to go forward when she knew the right way was back.

She could see a piece of paper stuck to the windshield and as she approached the car more closely, on the driver's seat, was an old stuffed animal of hers that she kept on her bed back at home. She had left it there because it, among most of her stuff, was too much of a painful reminder of her fucked up life before Litch. But now it had literally come back to haunt her.

In a rush of fear and adrenaline, Lorna quickly reached for the note. On it had read, _"Hope you're feeling better"_ and her stomach turned. She recognized that handwriting. Of course. A thug wouldn't break into her car to give her something and leave with nothing. But this handwriting; this handwriting she had seen signing restraining orders. Written from hands that inched closer and closer to her in fits of rage as he screamed at her during visitation.

Lorna turned away from her car and leaned over the railing; trying as hard as she could to not throw up. Why? Why would he break into her car? Into her _house_? Why would he leave her this note? She was leaving him alone. She hadn't seen him since that visitation. Her mind quickly trailed back to her conversation with Vinny, where she managed to manipulate him into beating up _her_ 'stalker'.

Oh God. He figured it out. He must've. It was getting harder and harder to keep everything down. It was getting harder to _breathe_. She closed her eyes as tight as she could, trying to hold in the tears that ran down her cheeks. She muffled sobs; not wanting them to get too loud in the empty garage where they would surely echo.

What was she going to do? She couldn't apologize to him. Try and make it right. It was clear this was _way_ beyond that.


End file.
